XVI. When Athens' armies fell at Syracuse, he rends his captive's chains, And bids him thank the bard for freedom and his strains. XVII. Thus, Venice, if no stronger claim were thine, Thy love of Tasso, should have cut the knot most of all, Albion to thee: the Ocean Queen should not Of Venice think of thine, despite thy watery wall. XVIII. I loved her from my boyhood Was as a fairy city of the heart, Rising like water-columns from the sea, 95 100 105 she to me Of joy the sojourn, and of wealth the mart ; And Otway, Radcliffe, Schiller, Shakespeare's art, 115 Than when she was a boast, a marvel, and a show. [CASCATA DEL MARMORE.] CHILDE HAROLD, CANTO IV. LXIX THE roar of waters! from the headlong height The fall of waters! rapid as the light The flashing mass foams shaking the abyss; The hell of waters! where they howl and hiss, And boil in endless torture; while the sweat Of their great agony, wrung out from this Their Phlegethon, curls round the rocks of jet That gird the gulf around, in pitiless horror set, LXX. And mounts in spray the skies, and thence again Is an eternal April to the ground, Making it all one emerald: - how profound The gulf! and how the giant element From rock to rock leaps with delirious bound, Crushing the cliffs, which, downward worn and rent, With his fierce footsteps, yield in chasms a fearful vent 5 IO 15 LXXI. To the broad column which rolls on, and shows 20 Torn from the womb of mountains by the throes Of a new world, than only thus to be With many windings through the vale: Look back! As if to sweep down all things in its track, 25 LXXII. Horribly beautiful! but on the verge, From side to side, beneath the glittering morn, Like Hope upon a death-bed, and, unworn By the distracted waters, bears serene Its brilliant hues with all their beams unshorn: Resembling, 'mid the torture of the scene, Love watching Madness with unalterable mien. 35 [THE COLISEUM.] CHILDE HAROLD, CANTO IV. CXL. I SEE before me the Gladiator lie: He leans upon his hand-his manly brow Like the first of a thunder-shower; and now Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hail'd the wretch who won. CXLI. his eyes He heard it, but he heeded not- ΙΟ There were his young barbarians all at play, 15 All this rush'd with his blood - Shall he expire, 5 CXLII. But here, where murder breathed her bloody steam; Here where the Roman million's blame or praise 20 25 CXLIII. A ruin yet what ruin! from its mass Walls, palaces, half-cities, have been rear'd; 30 And marvel where the spoil could have appear’d. Hath it indeed been plunder'd, or but clear'd' Alas! developed, opens the decay, When the colossal fabric's form is near'd; It will not bear the brightness of the day, Which streams too much on all years, man, have reft away. 35 CXLIV. But when the rising moon begins to climb Its topmost arch, and gently pauses there; When the stars twinkle through the loops of time, And the low night-breeze waves along the air The garland-forest, which the gray walls wear, Like laurels on the bald first Cæsar's head; When the light shines serene but doth not glare, 40 Heroes have trod this spot 'tis on their dust ye tread. 45 CXLV. "While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand; When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall; And when Rome falls the World." From our own land Thus spake the pilgrims o'er this mighty wall In Saxon times, which we are wont to call 50 Ancient; and these three mortal things are still On their foundations, and unalter'd all; The World, the same wide den — of thieves, or what ye will. [THE COLISEUM BY MOONLIGHT.] MANFRED, ACT III., SCENE 4. THE stars are forth, the moon above the tops I learn'd the language of another world. When I was wandering - - upon such a night Begun and died upon the gentle wind. Some cypresses beyond the time-worn breach 5 ΙΟ 15 20 |